Posted on 11/13/2003 9:57:39 AM PST by ahadams2
South African clerics take issue with their Archbishop
Number: 5692 Date: Nov 13, 2003
Bishops and clergy in South Africa for the first time are revealing their anger at what they see as the support by the Archbishop of Cape Town for Gene Robinson’s recent consecration.
The Bishop of Port Elizabeth was the first to distance himself from his Archbishop with a statement describing the consecration as “unacceptable”.
In a letter read out at all Anglican services in Port Elizabeth on Sunday, Bishop Nopece said: “The consecration as bishop of Gene Robinson, a man living openly in a homosexual relationship with another man in blatant disregard for the teaching of Holy Scripture and the position of the Anglican Communion, is not an action to be celebrated, but a deep and grievous error to be mourned.”
He said that the Archbishop of Cape Town was not speaking on “behalf of the faithful of this Province, as he has not heard the mind of the church fully through the deliberations of its general councils and synods on this issue.”
The Rev Trevor Pearce, a leading clergyman in the diocese of Cape Town also distanced himself from his Archbishop. “People are not happy,” he told The Church of England Newspaper. “The Archbishop has congratulated Gene Robinson, and that has been interpreted as support for what is happening. This has forced both bishops from various dioceses and clergy to speak out.”
Mr Pearce said that although a strong Western worldview was influential in the Province of southern Africa, a more conservative African majority had not been heard. He said that the Archbishop of Cape Town was going out on a limb with his support for the consecration.
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